Making choices, finding growth

Executive summary

Financial advisors at North American wealth management firms grew revenues to a record high in 2018. Remarkably, they did so without the market performance tailwinds that have propelled them for the past several years. They did so by attracting more new clients and by increasing their services to existing clients. Many advisors found growth by managing the demographics of their book and by adding more ‘Next Gen’ clients—that is, clients born after 1965. This edition of our annual State of Retail Wealth Management looks critically at several aspects of growth. How have so many advisors been successful at achieving growth? What roles do demographics and pricing play? What threats lie ahead for both advisors and executives? What actions can firms take to achieve long-term, sustainable growth? This report is drawn from PriceMetrix data collected from more than 25 wealth management firms in North America, and includes detailed positions and transactions information representing 12 million retail investors and $6 trillion in assets. Because data is refreshed continuously, PriceMetrix offers an unmatched view into the behaviors and characteristics of financial advisors and insights into how decisions affect advisor growth and client outcomes. Unless otherwise noted, all data is reported as of December 31, 2018.